System and method for transponder-enabled account transactions

ABSTRACT

A transponder-initiated transaction system is electromagnetically coupled to an account transponder device at the point of sale. The account transponder device may be embedded within a watch, key chain or other personal article for convenience or affinity. The transponder device may communicate account information to an RF-enabled point of sale device, enabling transactions to take place without resort to remote data processing facilities. In other embodiments partial or complete account information may be accessed or stored at co-located or remote sources. New account registrants may access a Web site to enter a transponder ID and activate a new account, which may be a credit account, debit account, cash account, special purpose vending account, or other types of accounts.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of electronic commerce, and moreparticularly to the use of transponder-activated account transactions atpoint of sale or other locations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of electromagnetically-coupled transducers for commercialtransaction processing has become increasingly popular in recent times.The advent of compact, inexpensive electronics, transponder-equippedpoint of sale equipment, and attendant information processing assetshave enabled a variety of vendors to offer account-linked transactionsystems. Those systems include, for example, subway or othertransportation devices, telephone calling devices, and others such asthe SpeedPass™ offered by Mobil Corp. for gasoline point of saletransactions. In that and other systems, a receiver emitselectromagnetic signals to a device in proximity to a gasoline pump overradio frequencies (RF), activating an embedded transponder within thetransaction device. The transaction device is identified by some sort ofidentification information, which information is then relayed from thepoint of sale to an offsite information processing facility. However,these types of distributed systems suffer from more than onedisadvantage.

For one, transactions made according to that technology require thatseparate offsite computing facilities be accessed, since the transponderin encoded with information identifying the transponder but not theaccount information necessary to complete the transaction. Processingtimes and time to completion of transactions are therefore increased,and the expense of linking and maintaining information processingfacilities to service the point of sale request is significant.Moreover, the initiation of new accounts to use such wireless vendingpoints requires backend processing facilitates to enter a new user'saccount to the remote data processing facility, as well as to encode andassociate the transponder with particular new accounts. Morestreamlined, convenient and flexible transaction technology isdesirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention overcoming these and other drawbacks in the art relates toa system and method for transponder-activated transactions, generallyinvolving the presentation and sensing of an electromagnetically coupledtransponder to an RF-enabled point of sale system. In the practice ofthe invention, the transponder may be preferably encoded with not merelyidentifying or serializing information, but also account informationwhich may be used to authorize or record transactions at the instant ofsale, so that remote data processing may not be necessary. Users of thetransponder of the invention may link the device to more than one typeof account, and activate the transponder using Web or othernetwork-enabled interfaces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like elements are referenced by like numerals.

FIG. 1 illustrates an overall transaction architecture according -to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an overall architecture of the invention according toa second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an activation architecture for the initiation of useraccounts according to the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of transaction processing according tothe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in FIG. 1, in a first embodiment of the invention, anoverall point of sale architecture includes a transponder 102 whichcommunicates via an RF link 104 to a receiver 106. The transponder 102may be or include any of several known electromagnetically coupleddevices, generally activated by proximity to an RF-enabled receivingunit, such as receiver 106. Transponder 102 may, for instance, containan electromagnetic coil antenna for inductive coupling to receiver 106,thereby being energized with small but sufficient electric current toactivate embedded electronics within transponder 102. Those electronicsmay include memory such as CMOS memory, logic gates, filters forisolating discrete transmission frequencies and other elements known inthe art. In one embodiment, transponder 102 may be programmable and ableto receive updated programmable instructions via RF link 104, as well asto have electronic memory erased or updated during transactions.Receiver 106 may include an electromagnetic antenna to couple withtransponder 102, generally within the range of a few feet of the device.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the receiver 106 is connectedto a point of sale (POS) device 108 for conducting a commercial or othertransaction. For instance, the point of sale device 108 may be orinclude any of several commercially known electronic cash registers orrelated transaction processing equipment, such as point of saleterminals manufactured by Sharp Corp. or others. In one embodiment ofthe invention, transponder 102 may be embedded within a personal articlefor convenience, aesthetic and affinity purposes. In that regard, theinvention has been integrated in one implementation within a fullyfunctional watch manufactured by the Swatch Corporation. Embedding inother personal articles, such as key chains, pavers, clothing or otheritems is also possible.

In the operation of the invention, a user who has subscribed to theaccount system of the invention may approach the receiver 106 at thepoint of sale device 108 to initiate and complete a purchase or othertransaction, such as at a restaurant or grocery market checkout line, orother points of sale. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1,transponder 102 contains an encoded transponder ID 110, which may forinstance be a 5-digit number or other identifying information. In thisembodiment, transponder 102 may also store an account table 112 directlyrecording account information for the subscribed user of the transponder102. The account table 112 may be or include, for instance, anindication of an account number, balance, limit and other informationfor a debit account, a cash account, a credit card account, specialpremises account for internal use such as by employees, or other accountinformation associated with users of the system.

In the implementation of this embodiment of the invention, receiver 106is configured to receive the account table 112 and apply an amount beingexecuted at the point of sale device 108 to the account reflected withinthe account table 112. For instance, a patron who has subscribed to anaccount according to the system of the invention may approach receiver106 in a restaurant line and wave a watch or other article containingtransponder 102 in proximity of the receiver 106. When transponder 102comes within range of receiver 106, transponder. 102 may be inductivelycoupled to the coils of an electromagnetic antenna within receiver 106inducing electrical energy within transponder 102, to establish the RFlink 104 with the receiver 106. Upon activation of transponder 102 andradiation of transponder ID 110 to the receiver 106, the receiver 106may respond with an acknowledge signal to the transponder 102. The pointof sale device 108 may indicate on a display screen or otherwise that atransaction is ready to be commenced. Once the point of sale device 108generates total amount due for the transaction, the receiver 106 mayinterrogate transponder 102 to obtain account table information fromaccount table 112 for application to the sale.

For instance, if a patron has purchased a meal in a restaurant line atpoint of sale device 108, the total purchase price may be validatedagainst available credit, available cash or other account-specifiedbalances within account table 112 for completion of the transaction.Conversely, if the amount of the transaction cannot be validated againstaccount table 112, the point of sale device 108 may indicate “cashrequired” or another message that transponder validation orauthorization has failed. If the transaction amount is validated,receiver 106 enters the transaction amount, recalculates an accountbalance for storage within account table 112 and transmits the revisedaccount table 112 information over the RF link 104 to the transponder102. A transaction completion signal may be emitted by receiver 106,which in one embodiment may turn off or decouple the transponder 102 viaRF link 104.

Among other advantages, because the receiver 106 and other transactionelements do not need to resort to offsite transaction processing,conduct of the transaction from initiation through approval andcompletion are completed quickly, often virtually instantaneously to asubscriber at the point of sale. It may be noted that receiver 106 andpoint of sale device 108 may be configured to execute a variety of othertypes of transactions, such as retail checkouts of books, movies, othermedia, and other transaction events.

In terms of new accounts registration as illustrated in FIG. 3, in theinvention a network-based activation architecture may be advantageouslyemployed. As shown in the figure, a new user may access a client workstation 118 connected via communications link 120 to a registrationserver 122. The communications link 120 may be, include or access anyone or more of, for instance, the Internet, an intranet, a PAN (PersonalArea Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network) ora MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a fame relay connection, an AdvancedIntelligent Network (AIN) connection, a synchronous optical network(SONET) connection, a digital T1, T3 or E1 line, Digital Data Service(DDS) connection, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection, an Ethernetconnection, an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line, adial-up port such as a V.90, V.34 or V.34bis analog modem connection, acable modem, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) connection, or FDDN(Fiber Distributed Data Networks) or CDDI (Copper Distrbuted DataInterface) connections.

Communications link 120 may furthermore be, include or access any one ormore of a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) link, a GPRS (GeneralPacket Radio Service) link, a GSM (Global System for MobileCommunication) link, a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or TDMA(Time Division Multiple Access) link such as a cellular phone channel, aGPS (Global Positioning System) link, CDPD (cellular digital packetdata), a Rf (Research in Motion, Limited) duplex paging type device, aBluetooth radio link, or an IEEE 802.11-based radio frequency link.Communications link 120 may yet further be, include or access any one ormore of an RS-232 serial connection, an IEEE-1394 (Firewire) connection,an IrDA (infrared) port, a SCSI (Small Computer Serial Interface)connection, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection or other wired orwireless, digital or analog interface or connection.

The registration server 122 may be or include, for instance, aworkstation running the Microsoft Windows™0 NT™ Windows™2000, Unix,Linux, Xenix, IBM AIX, Hewlett-Packard UX, Novell Netware™, sunMicrosystems Solaris™, OS/2™, BeOS™, Mach, Apache, OpenStep™ or otheroperating system or platform.

The registration server 122 may communicate with client workstation 118to receive preassigned information related to transponder 102, such astransponder ID 110 which may be printed by sticker on a watch or otherarticle housing the device, for entry into a database 126 withinregistration server 122 and the setting up of an account. The accountmay illustratively include or be more than one type of account 124 a . .. 124 n, such as cash accounts, debit accounts, credit card accounts,special purpose vending accounts, telephone card accounts, or others.The registration server 122 may validate the transponder ID 110, andinterrogate a new subscriber at client work station 118 to identify orselect which one or more of accounts 124 a . . . 124 n the user wishesto associate with the transponder 102.

For instance, the registration 122 may accept a preexisting credit cardnumber for registration with the transponder 102 and execution of futuretransactions. Once new account information is established, theregistration server 122 may communicate via network connection toreceiver 106 to update subscriber registration tables within thedatabase 126, receiver 106, point of sale device 108 or other associatedhardware to authorize transactions at the point of sale. The paperwork,delay, possibility for error and other drawbacks of paper-based back endaccount registration is thereby avoided.

A second illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 2,generally involving a processing architecture similar to that of FIG. 1.In this embodiment, a transponder 102 again communicates via RF link 104with receiver 106 to effectuate point of sale or other tractions.However, in the embodiment of FIG. 2 a portion or all of account table112 or other information stored in transponder 102 in the firstembodiment may be offloaded to economize on the necessary electronics,power consumption and other properties of transponder 102. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the point of sale device 108 isadditionally connected to a transaction server 116 via communicationslink 114, for the purpose of authorizing in whole or in parttransactions presented for payment using transponder 102. Communicationslink 114 may be, include or access communications resources similar tocommunications link 120.

In this embodiment, part or all of the information of account table 112may be stored in hard disk or other storage of transaction server 116.Transaction initiation begins in the same manner as the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1, however, after acknowledgments are exchangedbetween point of sale device 108 and transponder 102 and a transactionis set up, the point of sale device 108 may communicate with transactionserver 116 to validate a transaction amount or other information againstaccount information stored in the transaction server 116.

While this implementation involves additional hardware andcommunications link 114, if transaction server 116 is co-located withthe point of sale device 108, such as in a restaurant or retail outlet,communication delays may be minimal. Furthermore if the transactionserver 116 is dedicated to processing transactions only at the site ofpoint of sale device 108 or closely grouped facilities, processingburdens may be comparatively modest In another embodiment of theinvention, transaction server 116 may communicate with remote creditfile databases or other information resources before authorizing orcompleting a transaction initiated over RF link 104 at receiver 106,when circumstances may permit some execution delay to be acceptable.Alternatively, in another embodiment of the invention the point of saledevice 108 may perform a preliminary authorization for transactionspresented at the receiver 106, to collect and temporarily storetransactions, for instance over 2 or 3 hour periods, for batchprocessing remotely via transaction server 116. Since the majority oftransactions typically reconcile without difficulty, this implementationpermits more-immediate completion while still checking on accountvalidations at frequent intervals.

Overall transaction processing is illustrated in the flowchart of FIG.4. In step 202, processing begins. In step 204, the receiver 106 ispresented with transponder 102 within range of electromagnetic coupling,such as inductive coupling. In step 206, transponder 102 is activated,for instance by inductive energization of its circuitry. In step 208transponder 102 may communicate transponder ED 110, which the receiver106 acknowledges with an acknowledge signal over RF link 104 in step210.

In step 212, transaction information such as purchase amount is enteredat point of sale device 108, for instance by a check out clerk or otherattendant. In step 214, transaction table 112 or other accountinformation may be interrogated to determine whether account balances orother account parameters permit the pending transaction at the point ofsale device 108. If the transaction is not validated, in step 216 a“cash required” or other message is signaled at point of sale device108, and processing proceeds to step 224 whole processing ends.

If the account to be applied to the pending transaction is validated atstep 214, in step 218, the point of sale device 108 and receiver 106communicate with transponder 102 to indicate transaction acceptance, andmodify information within account table 112 if appropriate. In step 220,an end of transaction signal is sent to transponder 102 and in step 222,transponder 102 decouples from the receiver 106. In step 224, processingends.

The foregoing description of the system and method fortransponder-activated transactions is illustrative, and variations inconfiguration and implementation will occur to persons skilled in theart. For instance, while transponder 102 has been described aselectromagnetically coupling with the receiver 106, or other types ofdetection and coupling could be used. For instance, an infrared device,a biometrically enabled or other device may be presented tocorresponding detecting apparatus at the point of sale. Similarly,transponder 102 may contain or store other types or forms of informationother than transponder D 110 and account table 112. The scope of theinvention is accordingly intended to be limited only by the followingclaims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A transponder-reader payment system comprising: atransponder system responsive to a Radio Frequency (RF) interrogationsignal, the transponder system including a transponder database, thetransponder database storing at least a transponder system identifier; aRadio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader in RF communication withthe transponder system, the RFID reader providing an interrogationsignal to the transponder system and receiving the transponder systemidentifier; a merchant system for receiving the transponder systemidentifier, the merchant system including a merchant system identifierand a merchant point of interaction device in communication with theRFID reader, the merchant system configured to match the transpondersystem identifier and the merchant system identifier to a usertransaction request forming a merchant transaction request; an issuersystem comprising: an issuer system server in communication with themerchant point of interaction device for receiving the merchanttransaction request; and an issuer system database including a fundingsource data file containing a funding source value for satisfying themerchant transaction request and a funding account protocol, the fundingsource data file associated with the transponder system identifier; anda primary funding source containing a primary funding source value, theprimary funding source in communication with the issuer system server,the primary funding source configured for one of providing value to andreceiving value from the funding account data file, the primary fundingsource associated with the transponder system identifier, wherein theissuer system retrieves at least a portion of the user transactionrequest value from the funding source data file and provides at least aportion of the funding source value to the merchant system in accordancewith the funding protocol.
 22. The transponder-reader system of claim21, further comprising a secondary funding source containing a secondaryfunding source value, the secondary funding source in communication withthe issuer system server, the secondary funding source configured forone of providing value to and receiving value from the funding sourcedata file, the secondary funding source associated with the transpondersystem identifier.
 23. The transponder-reader system of claim 21,wherein the funding source data file comprises a preloaded value datafile and a reload protocol data file, the preloaded value data file andreload protocol data file associated with the transponder systemidentifier, the preload value data file storing a predetermined valuefor use in satisfying a user transaction request.
 24. Thetransponder-reader system of claim 23, wherein the primary fundingsource is associated with the preloaded value data file.
 25. Thetransponder-reader payment system of claim 23 wherein the issuer systemserver retrieves the portion of the funding source value from theprimary funding source in accordance with the reload protocol data file.26. The transponder-reader payment system of claim 25, wherein theprimary funding source comprises a stored value account, charge cardaccount, loyalty account, phone card account, credit card account ordebit card account, or combinations thereof.
 27. The transponder-readerpayment system of claim 21, wherein the RFID reader receives thetransponder system identifier in Track 1/Track 2 format.
 28. Atransponder-reader payment system comprising: a transponder systemresponsive to a Radio Frequency (RF) interrogation signal, thetransponder system including a transponder database, the transponderdatabase storing at least a transponder system identifier; a RadioFrequency Identification (RFID) reader in RF communication with thetransponder system, the RFID reader providing an interrogation signal tothe transponder system and receiving the transponder system identifier;a merchant system for receiving the transponder system identifier, themerchant system including a merchant system identifier and a merchantpoint of interaction device in communication with the RFID reader, themerchant system configured to match the transponder system identifierand the merchant system identifier to a user transaction request forminga merchant transaction request; an issuer system comprising: an issuersystem server in communication with the merchant point of interactiondevice for receiving the merchant transaction request; and an issuersystem database including a funding source data file containing afunding source value for satisfying the merchant transaction request anda funding account protocol, the funding source data file associated withthe transponder system identifier; and a primary funding sourcecontaining a primary funding source value, the primary funding source incommunication with the issuer system server, the primary finding sourceconfigured for one of providing value to and receiving value from thefunding account data file, the primary funding source associated withthe transponder system identifier, wherein the issuer system retrievesat least a portion of the user transaction request value from thefunding source data file and provides at least a portion of the findingsource value to the merchant system in accordance with the fundingprotocol, wherein further the primary funding source comprises a storedvalue account, charge card account, loyalty account, phone card account,credit card account or debit card account, or combinations thereof. 29.A method of transponder-reader payment comprising: providing atransponder system identifier to a merchant system via radio frequencysignal; matching the transponder system identifier to the merchantsystem identifier and a user transaction request to form a merchanttransaction request, the user transaction request containing atransaction value and a transaction identifying marker; providing themerchant transaction request to an issuer system server, the issuersystem server comprising a funding account; and retrieving value from atleast one of a primary funding source and a secondary funding source andproviding the value to the funding account in accordance with a userdefined funding protocol.
 30. The method of claim 29 further comprisingretrieving at least a portion of the user transaction value from thefunding account and providing the retrieved portion of the usertransaction value to a merchant system in accordance with the userdefined funding protocol.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein thefunding account comprises a preloaded value data file, wherein a valuesubstantially equivalent to the retrieved portion of the usertransaction value is added to the value in the preloaded value data fileaccording to a preload protocol.
 32. The method of claim 29, wherein thefunding account comprises a stored value account, charge card account,loyalty account, phone card account, credit card account or debit cardaccount, or combinations thereof.
 33. The method of claim 29, whereinthe transponder system identifier is provided to the merchant system inTrack 1/Track 2 format.
 34. A system for completing a transaction usinga transaction device comprising: a RFID transaction device associatedwith a transaction device proxy code, the RFID transaction devicecomprising a transaction device storage for storing the transactiondevice proxy code; a merchant system, the merchant system including amerchant system database, and a point of interaction device incommunication with the RFID transaction device for transmitting andreceiving data from the RFID transaction device in a contactlessenvironment, the point of interaction device in RF communication withthe RFID transaction device; a transaction device account issuer systemfor maintaining a unique transaction account associated with the RFIDtransaction device, the transaction account correlated to a uniquetransaction account identifier, the transaction account for use incompleting a transaction request, wherein the transaction device accountissuer system provides the unique transaction account identifier to thetransaction device database, wherein further the RFID transaction deviceprovides the transaction device identifier to the merchant system pointof interaction, the merchant system associating the transaction deviceidentifier to the transaction request, wherein further the merchantsystem provides at least the transaction device identifier and thetransaction request to the issuer system, wherein further the issuersystem correlates the transaction device identifier to the uniquetransaction account, the issuer system satisfying the transactionrequest relative to the unique transaction account.
 35. The method ofclaim 34, wherein the unique transaction account comprises a storedvalue account, charge card account, loyalty account, phone card account,credit card account or debit card account, or combinations thereof. 36.The method of claim 34, wherein the transponder device proxy code isprovided to the point of interaction device in Track 1/Track 2 format.37. A method for completing a transaction in a contactless environmentcomprising: providing a proxy code to a RFID transaction device;facilitating the providing of the proxy code to a merchant system;facilitating the providing of the proxy code to a transaction deviceissuer system, the transaction device issuer system maintaining atransaction device account correlative to the proxy code; andfacilitating the completion of a transaction request correlative to thetransaction device account.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein thetransaction account comprises a stored value account, charge cardaccount, loyalty account, phone card account, credit card account ordebit card account, or combinations thereof.
 39. The method of claim 37,wherein the proxy code is provided to the merchant system in Track1/Track 2 format.
 40. A method of transmitting data for transactioncompletion comprising: receiving a proxy transaction device accountidentifier, wherein the proxy account transaction device identifierincludes at least one portion of a transaction device identifierassociated with a transaction account; providing a transaction accountidentifier in accordance with a portion of the proxy transaction deviceidentifier, the portion of the proxy transaction device identifiercorresponding to a portion of the transaction account identifier; andcorrelating the transaction account identifier with a transactionaccount for use in satisfying a transaction.
 41. The method of claim 40,wherein the transaction account comprises a stored value account, chargecard account, loyalty account, phone card account, credit card accountor debit card account, or combinations thereof.
 42. The method of claim40, wherein the proxy transaction device account identifier is receivedin Track 1/Track 2 format.
 43. A computer implemented service forupdating a merchant customer account database over a network for RFpayment devices, comprising: a first database of information having aplurality of merchant customer records; a remote merchant customerdatabase having a first plurality of customer account records, each ofthe account records associated with a corresponding recurring billingaccount record; a merchant process server for appending a merchantprocessing request to at least one of the first plurality of customeraccounts to produce a merchant processing request data file for seekingapproval of a transaction, the merchant process server receiving thetransaction from an RF payment device, identifying one of the accountrecords with the RF payment device, correlating the one account recordwith the corresponding recurring billing account record; and a processserver for receiving the first database of information and the merchantprocessing request data file, the process server configured to comparethe first database of information and the merchant processing requestdata file to produce a first comparison data file, the first comparisondata file comprising a first record including a compilation of themerchant processing requests accepted for processing by the processserver for the requested transaction, the first comparison data filefurther comprising a second record including a compilation of themerchant processing requests rejected for processing by the processserver, the process server further configured to update the firstdatabase of information in accordance with the merchant processingrequest data file to include approved transactions from the RF paymentdevice on the corresponding recurring billing record.
 44. The service ofclaim 43, wherein the recurring billing record is associated with astored value account, charge card account, loyalty account, phone cardaccount, credit card account or debit card account, or combinationsthereof.
 45. The service of claim 43, wherein information received bythe merchant process server from the RF payment device that identifiesone of the account records with the RF payment device is received inTrack 1/Track 2 format.
 46. A method of updating a merchant customertransaction account database using a computer network for RF paymentdevices, comprising: receiving a first plurality of customer transactionaccount records, each of the account records being associated with acorresponding recurring billing account record; storing the firstplurality of customer transaction account records on a local database,the local database being maintained by a local process server; storingthe first plurality of customer transaction account records in a remotedatabase, the remote database being accessed through a remote processserver; receiving by a merchant process server the transactions from anRF payment device, identifying one of the account records correspondingwith the RF payment device, and correlating the one account record withthe corresponding recurring billing account record; providing a periodicregistry file to the remote process server, the periodic registry filecomprising an update request to the plurality of customer transactionaccount records for transactions requesting approval by the merchantsystem, the process server comparing the periodic registry file to thefirst plurality of customer transaction account record and updating thefirst plurality of customer transaction account records according to anorder of process steps, the remote process server generating amaintenance file in response to the comparison of the periodic registryfile to the first plurality of customer transaction account records;providing the maintenance file to the local process server, the localprocess server comparing the maintenance file to the first plurality ofcustomer transaction account records on a local database; and updatingthe first plurality of customer transaction account records on a localdatabase in response to the maintenance file to include approvedtransactions from the RF payment device on the corresponding recurringbilling record.
 47. The method of claim 46 further comprisingpre-authorizing the first plurality of customer transaction accountrecords.
 48. The method of claim 46, wherein the recurrent billingaccount record is associated with a stored value account, charge cardaccount, loyalty account, phone card account, credit card account ordebit card account, or combinations thereof.
 49. A method forfacilitating the re-association of an account number associated with afirst transaction account to a second transaction account comprising:providing a second transaction account; receiving an account numberassociated with a first transaction account; associating the accountnumber with the second transaction account; wherein the account numberis a proxy account number associated with a transponder, wherein theproxy account number within a proxy system is configured to associatethe proxy account number to more than one transaction account, andwherein the proxy account number is authorized to be used for multipletransactions.
 50. The method of claim 49 wherein the first transactionaccount comprises a stored value account, charge card account, loyaltyaccount, phone card account, credit card account or debit card account,or combinations thereof.
 51. The method of claim 49 wherein the secondtransaction account comprises a stored value account, charge cardaccount, loyalty account, phone card account, credit card account ordebit card account, or combinations thereof.
 52. The method of claim 49,wherein the account number is received in Track 1/Track 2 format.